1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a wooden beam for a supporting framework and its constructional elements, where the wooden beam consists of at least two supporting members at least partially made of wood with a continuous hollow space joined to form one unit, with at least one shear connector with connection options inside the hollow space, as well as the shear connector itself, the supporting framework that can be produced with at least one such beam and a device for inserting at least one shear connector into a supporting member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Supporting frameworks are known from many fields. Steel and reinforced concrete supporting framework constructions shall be mentioned here only as examples and are used in various fields, from erecting buildings to construction of bridges.
However, a disadvantage of these supporting framework constructions is that they are very expensive to manufacture—for example, assembly is commonly associated with cost-intensive welding work and subsequent pouring of concrete and also with regard to the number of different individual parts required, which must also be adapted and assembled in a complicated procedure. Furthermore, such supporting framework constructions can be produced only by a specialist.
Another disadvantage which should not be underestimated is that with the known supporting frameworks, the individual parts must be fixedly joined together and thus repeated use is out of the question, and whenever repairs, if any, are necessary, they can be performed only at enormous expense.
Recently there has been a discernible trend in the construction industry toward increasing use of wood or wood-based materials as a building material in the construction of single-family dwellings. Various supporting systems have been successful in this area. Solid wood, glued laminated girders and other wood-based materials as well as cross-beams are used, that are capable of absorbing and transmitting greater forces with cross sections of the same size.
There have been various proposals for the joints to be used, in particular in the area of the ends of these wooden construction elements. Examples that can be mentioned here include dowels driven across the longitudinal axis of the beam in the area of tongue-and-groove joints, with bolts and additional screw nails or nail connections with cover plates or tenons with cross-driven hard wood dowels or embedded steel T-sections with dowels or tenons, in particular forked mortise and tenon joints and the like.
All these joints have the great disadvantage that the systems constructed with them are expensive to assemble and also require a multitude of individual parts which must also be fitted and assembled in inaccessible positions, often on site and at great effort. As a result, these systems can usually also be assembled only by expert personnel to form an overall supporting framework that can withstand forces and loads.
In addition to this trend toward increased use of wood in the construction industry, there is another trend in this branch of the industry, namely that toward the construction of buildings, in particular single-family dwellings, inexpensively through personal effort and thus to make home ownership accessible to larger portions of society. This is impossible with the known joining systems because they must be manufactured with precision in specially equipped manufacturing sites.
Therefore, the object of this invention is to propose a beam and a supporting framework constructed with its construction elements, in particular shear connectors and connecting parts as well as a method of producing such beams including a device for introducing the shear connectors, which do not have the above-mentioned disadvantages, and instead they are characterized in that their elements can be assembled easily without any complicated additional measures to form a supporting framework, preferably in a detachable manner.